As Springsteen recently acknowledged, just a couple of days after the Starman’s passing, Bowie was a big supporter of Springsteen’s early career. I had written about that in my post which you can read here so it was satisfying to have the Boss confirm it all just a month or so later. I find this cover a little odd, to be honest. It fails to hit the right tone somehow. It has a lot of great elements but somehow they fail to coalesce into a satisfying whole. Bowie must have agreed because it didn’t make it onto Pinups only appearing years later as an extra on the German reissue. It’s still a fun listen, though.

I love this band and Springsteen actually personally selected them to do this cover. It’s a pretty cool version, let down a little by too much repetition towards the end. This song has been covered by so many people from Pete Yorn to Levon Helm and this won’t be it’s only appearance here in my top 10.

I really like Matt Berninger’s voice and, though this is not one of my favourite Springsteen songs, this version is achingly beautiful (dang, I was saving that line for my number one, ah well). I’ve been a big fan of this band since I first heard I need my girl and this cover was a pleasant surprise when I came across it. Springsteen should definitely get some violin happening on his own live version (he has fantastic violinist Soozie Tyrell in his band after all).

I had to include this one, it’s such an ambitious solo effort from Something for Kate frontman Dempsey. He messes with the lyrics somewhat (I’m not happy about that) but the guitar playing is amazing, as is his voice, so it’s in.

I only recently discovered this little gem from Irish singer-songwriter Hansard. It’s a very different interpretation of a Springsteen classic and as an added bonus features The Little Big Man himself, Jake Clemons on sax as well as a certain Springsteen fanatic you may know named Eddie Vedder on backing vocals. This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it grows on you if you give it a few spins.

You could say this is the version that birthed a Springsteen zealot (hey Jim, see how I appropriated your label there?). It was after hearing this cover (not even knowing it was a Springsteen song) that my journey into the ranks of the true fanatics began. Hearing a Melbourne band singing about New Jersey obviously peaked my interest and, after finding out who wrote the song, I was hooked. I now walk around with the entire Springsteen songbook on my Nook tablet. I’d call myself a tramp but I’m pretty sure you have to have been to at least one actual Springsteen concert before you can wear that jacket.

This gets my vote for the most original cover of a Springsteen song ever. It’s so different from the original that it almost counts as their own composition. The anger and disgust at the inequalities in this materialistic world are hammered home loud and clear. I personally love this version.

This was always going to be the one. Patty took a beautiful song and made it a truly great one. This may well be the most unbearably gorgeous piece of music I’ve ever had the pleasure to encounter. Springsteen must have wept the first time he heard it.

I’ll be downloading all of these as I have a particular affinity for covers. Of course, you can do a whole year of blog posts on Springsteen covers. I’ll just say my two favorites are from Jersey people: Brian Fallon from The Gaslight Anthem doing Backstreets (my entry drug into TGA), and two young NJ singers, Nalani & Sarina doing No Surrender (can be found on Backstreets.com).

My favorites here are Bowie (someone in the comment section said he sounded like Phil Lynott), Hansard, Griffin and especially Rage Against the Machine. Oh, and I dig Dempsey’s version of Born to Run though I confess I’ve never heard of him. Maybe one too many slow, sensitive numbers for me. I don’t have a covers list but it’d probably lean more heavily towards rockers. But that’s just me. 😀

I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of Dempsey, he’s from a Melbourne band (Something for Kate). They’re very big here but haven’t really broken through in the States.
Yeah, I’m a sucker for slow, sensitive songs. Truth is, when it comes to the rocking stuff, no one else can do them as well as the Boss himself (except Bowie and RATM).